James' book, which says it's an R-10: "Previously only known notched - we thought perhaps a prototype. Around 2006 2 good ones were found! The T-Bird closed on Dec. 31, 1976, these chips were in use a short time."

On the chipboard archives there is a series of posts in April of 2008 where there was a T-Bird $5 that was for sale on but then the auction was ended prematurely and there was speculation about what happened to it. Steve Bedo mentioned that one had sold on in the previous year or so prior in the ~$3,500 range, but I couldn't find any mention of that sale in the archives so it must not have been discussed on the Board at the time.

I started following all things casino and bicentennial pretty closely on (and everywhere else I could) in the early Fall of 2008 (the second or third time James had (I believe) every Bicentennial chip-- sans the Thunderbird-- up for sale in one lot on and I toyed with the idea of bidding, though not seriously enough to actually pull the trigger); this is the first time I've seen The T-Bird $5 come up for auction since that time almost 3 years ago. Some day when I'm Rich and Famous the Thunderbird $5 will be mine. In the meantime I'll have to content myself with my Silver Bird $5 below-- "almost" as nice and slightly more affordable .

Brent J. Jensen
R-8007
orbis non sufficit